Bayern Munich vs Benfica Preview & Prediction | 2024-25 UEFA Champions League | League Phase

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Vincent Kompany’s reign in charge of Bayern Munich has been a generally positive one but they really need to get back to winning ways in Europe as they take on an improved but still inconsistent Benfica side at the Allianz Arena this week. 

KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Wednesday 6th October, 2024 - UK – 8:00pm / US ET – 3:00pm / US PT – 12:00pm

HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – TNT Sports / US – Not televised

HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – Discovery+ / US – Paramount+

BAYERN MUNICH PREVIEW: THE HIGH RISK BAYERN

The surprise appointment of Vincent Kompany was met with a lot of scepticism and there is also quite a lot of criticism lingering of the Belgian, especially after the Bavarians were hammered 4-1 by Barcelona a couple of weeks ago which means they have actually started this season’s UEFA Champions League campaign with two defeats and a victory.

They do sit at the top-of-the-table in the Bundesliga and they have scored 50 goals in 14 matches across all competitions so far this season with Harry Kane having scored 16 of those. However, whilst the format is more forgiving, they are now under a fair bit of pressure in Europe and need a win. 

BENFICA PREVIEW: NEEDING CONSISTENCY

Last season, Benfica endured a miserable defence of their Portuguese title and Roger Schmidt was eventually sacked after significant underperformance with former Wolverhampton Wanderers and Braga boss Bruno Lage now at the helm at the Estadio da Luz with major improvement domestically.

They have won nine matches in a row domestically since they returned from the September international break and also enjoyed victories over Crvena Zvezda and Atletico Madrid but a couple of weeks ago, despite being the better side, suffered a surprise 3-1 defeat to Feyenoord in the Portuguese capital. 

BAYERN MUNICH TEAM NEWS: DEFENSIVE INJURIES

Bayern Munich are dealing with several injury concerns for this week’s clash with Benfica with defensive midfielder Aleksandar Pavlovic the key absentee.

As well as Pavlovic, Bayern are also without summer signing Hiroki Ito and January signing Sacha Boey, whilst Josip Stanisic is also sidelined for the German league leaders. 

PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Neuer; Guerreiro, Upamecano, Kim, Davies; Kimmich, Palhinha; Olise, Musiala, Gnabry; Kane

UNAVAILABLE: Ito (Injured), Stanisic (Injured), Boey (Injured), Pavlovic (Injured)

QUESTIONABLE: 

BENFICA TEAM NEWS: EXCITING ATTACK

Benfica have a very impressive attacking side with a fun front four that includes Angel Di Maria, Orkan Kokcu, Kerem Akturkoglu and Greece international Vangelis Pavlidis.

They are missing a few key players for this one, though. Luxembourg international Leandro Barreiro is sidelined alongside both Tiago Gouveia and Gianluca Prestianni. 

PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Trubin; Bah, Araujo, Otamendi, Carreras; Florentino, Aursnes; Di Maria, Kokcu, Akturkoglu; Pavlidis

UNAVAILABLE: Barreiro (Injured), Gouveia (Injured), Prestianni (Injured)

QUESTIONABLE: 

KEY STATS

• Bayern are unbeaten in all 12 UEFA competition matches between these two teams (W9 D3) with eight wins in their last nine meetings (D1).
• Bayern have won all their previous six UEFA competition matches at home against Benfica. They scored an average of four goals per game in the six encounters (5-1, 4-1, 4-1, 1-0, 5-1, 5-2).
• Bayern have scored five goals in their last two UEFA Champions League matches at home against Benfica (5-1 in the 2018/19 group stage and 5-2 in the 2021/22 group stage).
• Bayern have lost only two of their previous 30 UEFA competition matches against Portuguese teams (W19 D9).
• Bayern have won 12 and drawn two of their previous 14 UEFA competition matches at home against Portuguese teams.
• A defeat for Bayern would see them lose three successive matches in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League for only the second time. They previously lost three in a row in October 2002 in the 2002/03 group stage.
• Bayern are unbeaten in their last 17 UEFA Champions League matches at home (W13 D4).
• Bayern have won 29 and drawn two of their last 31 home UEFA Champions League group/league phase matches. Since losing 3-2 against Manchester City in December 2013.
• Bayern have only failed to score in two of their last 53 UEFA Champions League matches in Munich.
• Harry Kane needs one goal to reach the landmark of 35 goals scored in the UEFA Champions League proper and this would be his 48th appearance. Only Erling Haaland (27) and Ruud van Nistelrooy (42) have reached the landmark in fewer appearances.
• Raphaël Guerreiro has made 49 appearances in the UEFA Champions League proper.
• Benfica have won only two of their last 14 UEFA competition matches against German teams (D3 L9).
• Benfica have won only two of their previous 27 UEFA competition matches away from home against German teams (D7 L18).
• Benfica have lost only three of their last 14 UEFA competition group/league phase matches away from home (W5 D6).
• Benfica have won their last two away matches in the UEFA Champions League proper.
• Ángel Di María needs one goal to reach the landmark of 25 goals scored in the UEFA Champions League proper. He would become the fourth Argentinian player to reach the landmark after Lionel Messi (129 goals), Sergio Agüero (41 goals) and Hernán Crespo (25).

BAYERN MUNICH VS BENFICA PREDICTION

Bayern Munich, as mentioned, have been magnificent to watch going forward but there will be a slight concern that their ability to out-score everyone in Germany is simply the result of having better players not complicating things like in recent seasons but their performances in the UEFA Champions League have remained underwhelming and lacking sophistication. They face a Benfica side with an abundance of attacking talent and both teams scoring remains a good bet, albeit Bayern are favourites with their home advantage. 

BAYERN MUNICH VS BENFICA TIP: BAYERN MUNICH TO WIN & BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE